


She and I

by pyrexprodigy



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: 5+1 Things, Bisexual Marinette, Bullying, Complicated Relationships, F/F, First Meeting, Lesbian Lila, Lilanette Week, New Crushes, mild swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-28
Updated: 2016-07-28
Packaged: 2018-07-24 13:34:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7510333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pyrexprodigy/pseuds/pyrexprodigy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five times Lila fell in love with Marinette, and one time Ladybug fell in love with Lila.</p>
            </blockquote>





	She and I

**Author's Note:**

> Lila is gaaaaaaay.
> 
> I just stayed up for five hours straight to write this. It was one when I started and now it's six thirty in the morning so pls forgive mistakes I'm a tired and sad person.
> 
> ANYWAY I haven't written for this fandom before but I love this pairing <3 Happy Lilanette week!!!!

_One:_

Meeting Lila as Marinette for the first is an odd experience and certainly one she will not soon forget. Lila, on the other hand, probably forgets as soon as she walks away.

It starts like this: Lila’s in the library. Marinette is in the library. They are in the library together, but not _together_  together.

She has to admit, she’s been avoiding Lila. There’s always the possibility that someone will recognize her, even with whatever magical charm keeps her from being identical to her ordinary self - something she still doesn’t understand but there’s a lot she doesn’t understand. Having Lila, who hates Ladybug in a way that Marinette has never been hated before, recognize would be the end of her life as she knew it.

Besides, if she’s being honest, she still feels bad. Being the new kid is hard. Lila’s gotten a lot of pushback for the lies she told, and only a few people have willingly forgiven her. Alya, because she herself was the new girl, and Adrien, who is just a good person.

She ignores thoughts of Adrien because if she doesn’t things are going to get embarrassing fast. Instead, she takes a deep breath and walks out from behind the bookshelf she was hiding behind. To get where she needs to go, she has to walk past Lila. And Marinette really doesn’t want to do that.

Unfortunately, Lila chooses to stand up just as Marinette is passing behind her. The Italian girl’s chair slams into her shins and hips and Lila’s books fly to the floor. Marinette’s own body is hit with twinges of pain, but her first instinct is to crouch to the floor and help Lila gather her books.

Lila looks up when Marinette passes her one of her textbooks like this is the first time she’s seeing her. Marinette can feel her heartbeat speed up and tries to keep eye-contact without being too weird about it.

“I’m so sorry,” she says in a squeaky voice. God, she’s such a clutz. “Are you okay?”

Lila examines her quietly for a long, silent moment before jumping back into reality. “I’m fine,” she assures somewhat stiffly, bringing her books to her chest. The two of them are still crouched on the floor across from each other and Marinette’s pretty sure they’ve been staring at each other for a lot longer than is socially acceptable. That only serves to make her more nervous.

“Good,” Marinette says with her best friendly smile. “I, ah. I have to go, but I’m really sorry.”

She leaves before Lila can say anything.

 

* * *

 

 

_Two:_

Marinette finds herself hoping she won’t see Lila even more than she used to. There was just something about the way the other girl looked at her, like she knew something, that Marinette didn’t like. It made her uneasy. Besides that, she really didn’t need to complication of someone recognizing her, though Tikki is adamant that no one will.

But she can’t just avoid her now that they’re in the same class. She’s got that unfortunate guilty-conscious thing to deal with, too, so she doesn’t ignore Lila. She just… doesn’t engage.

At least, until she brings in macarons.

She’s made them before. She makes a lot of bakery products, which makes sense she lives in a bakery. But she’s never brought macarons to school. Making them is usually not worth the effort of bringing them in but, hey, they turned out alright this time. So she might as well.

Which is a mistake, mostly because of Chloe.

Most things are a mistake mostly because of Chloe.

Miss Bustier is, as usual, more than willing to let Marinette pass out her treats. It’s common enough at this point that it’s hardly a distraction and no longer a surprise - maybe some people even look forward to it. That would be nice.

Marinette goes through the motions, giving each person in the class two macarons. Alya and Adrien get three, but she doesn’t look at Adrien when she gives him an extra one. She hopes he doesn’t notice but he probably does. He’s smart. Part of why she likes him so much.

And then she comes to Chloe. Marinette was raised to be a polite young lady, so she naturally offers a pink macaron out to Chloe. The blonde girl looks up from her compact mirror long enough to wrinkle her nose in disgust and toss a dismissive hand. The hand almost catches Marinette’s container and she has to drop her tongs in order to keep a grip on the rest of them. She glares at Chloe before moving on to Sabrina, who refuses as well. Well, fine then. More for her.

Before long, she’s at Lila, who obviously hasn’t been paying attention. She’s at the back of the class, staring out the window with her chin propped in the palm of her hand. She glances up when Marinette stops in front of her and does a double take, quickly sitting up.

What a weird girl.

Marinette smiles at her and ignores the guilty teeth that gnaw at the back of her conscious thought. “Do you want one?” she asks.

Lila considers her for a moment. “I’m allergic to nuts.”

Marinette blinks. “Oh. Okay. I have some almond-free ones in my bag if you want some.”

Lila stares at her like she’s the messiah. “Yes,” she concedes. “I’d like that.”

Marinette turns to go, contemplating the possibility that Lila’s doesn’t know anything and she’s probably being paranoid.

 

* * *

 

_Three:_

There are few people Marinette genuinely dislikes. Chloe Bourgeois might very well be one of those people.

She’d like to think of herself as a diplomat when really, the reality is that she’s kind of a doormat. Before Alya taught her the virtue of confidence, it had been even worse for her. The fact of the matter is that Chloe bothers her a lot less than she used to. But that doesn’t mean the girl has turned over a leaf. She’s still the same mean old Chloe, and you can tell because of how she treats Lila.

Marinette really, really doesn’t mean to get involved in anything. It’s while they're in the locker room before gym and most of the other girls have left that she gets pulled into more nonsense.

“Oh, it’s the liar.” That’s Chloe’s voice. She’s still in the middle of pulling her shorts on since she had to rush here after talking to a teacher (she missed his class because she was a little busy, you know, saving France as the most loved superheroine ever. But whatever) when she realizes that Chloe isn’t talking to her. It’s a relief until she realizes who she must be talking to.

She groans internally.

“So, how’s school been, Liar?”

“My name is Lila.”

She can hear Chloe laugh and does her best to fix her hair in her locker mirror quickly, gym shirt in hand. “Whatever you say, Liar. But who knows? Maybe that isn’t even your real name.”

“That would be a stupid thing to lie about,” Lila says quickly and quietly

“You’ve lied about stupider,” Chloe snaps back just as fast. “It’s not like I believed you or anything. I mean, not everyone can be as connected and popular as I am. But lying about it? That’s just _so_ pathetic.”

There’s silence and Marinette finds herself straining to listen as she ties her shoes as fast as humanly possible.

“Okay,” Lila says.

“ _Okay?_ Seriously? That’s all you have to say for yourself?” Chloe demands. Like she actually wants an apology or something.

“What do you want from me?” Lila snaps.

Chloe is quiet for a long moment before saying, “Well, I’d like my bracelet back.”

“What bracelet?”

“The one you stole from me.” Chloe says like it’s obvious.

“But this is mine,” Lila tells her, a bit indignantly. “My dad got it for my birthday.”

“Like anyone would believe that. I could tell everyone you stole it from me and they’d all believe me. You know, because you’re a liar.”

“But-” Lila doesn’t have a response to that.

“Well? Hand it over. I might forgive you if you do.”

Marinette can’t hear anything for a long time and wonders if Lila actually gave it to her.

She shouldn’t have to. And because Marinette is too nice and too stupid for her own good, she steps out from behind her row of lockers and marches up to Chloe with a glare on her face. It looks like Lila was just about to reluctantly drop the bracelet into Chloe’s open, expectant hand before she came in.

“She doesn’t have to give you anything,” Marinette says fiercely, yanking Lila’s hand away from Chloe. “No one owes you anything, Chloe. Just leave her alone.”

Chloe pulls back her hand in disgust before turning around with a flip of her high ponytail. It whips Marinette on the cheek, which was likely the original intention of the move.

“Whatever,” she says. “That bracelet is ugly anyway.”

When the blonde girl leaves with a slam of the locker room door, the two of them are alone. Marinette pulls her hand away from Lila’s shyly, the bracelet in her palm. She moves to reattach it around Lila’s wrist, avoiding the other girl’s eyes.

“Are you okay?” Marinette asks awkwardly when she’s done.

“You-” Lila cuts herself off as she blushes and looks away. “You’re not wearing a shirt.”

And Marinette realizes that Lila is quite right. She is not wearing a shirt.

Lila speedwalks out the door while Marinette turns back to her locker, holding her burning cheeks in her hands and going over everything that just happened in her head.

 _Oh my God,_ she thinks. _Oh my God._

 

* * *

 

_Four:_

There’s something to be said about being your own tailor. The best thing about it is that you can stumble out of bed ten minutes before you have to leave and can still show up to school looking like the Chinese version of Beyonce.

Alya makes sure she knows this.

“You always look so great,” her best friend says, almost like she’s complaining. Marinette smiles because she knows it’s a compliment. It’s nice that that’s the first thing she hears in the morning.

“Thanks,” she replies with genuine gratitude. “I made it myself.”

“Of course you did.”

The “it” in question is a knee-length blue dress with an a-line skirt. It’s simple, and she has to wear a small jacket over it to make sure she isn’t dress-coded or anything, but she really likes it. Blue is her color.

She slides into her seat next to Alya and crosses her ankles, leaning forward against the table. To her surprise, she wasn’t the last one there. Lila and Adrien are both late as well, it seems. Which is a shame, because seeing Adrien in the morning always makes her day.

She blushes at her own embarrassing thoughts and lays her face in her hands, gathering herself together in preparation of actually seeing him. Hopefully she can manage without saying anything regrettable.

Ha. Like that’ll happen.

Her head jumps up out of her hands as the door opens. But it’s just Lila, hair a bit of a mess and cheeks flushed from running. Marinette can’t help but feel a little disappointed.

Lila locks eyes with her, which makes sense since she did draw a lot of attention to herself by shooting up like a bullet out of a gun, and seems to stare for a long time. In fact, she freezes in her place and her cheeks get darker with color.

That’s weird.

Marinette tries to smooth over the moment by offering Lila a small wave and a smile, but the girl still doesn’t move for a long moment. Which isn’t great, because now she’s drawing attention to herself and Chloe will probably notice before long. The best way you can make yourself a target for Chloe is to stand out, especially early on in the day.

Luckily, Lila seems to snap out of whatever state she’s in and breaks eye-contact with Marinette, trudging through the front of the room and heading to her seat. She stops next to Marinette momentarily and, without looking at her, says, “I like your dress.”

Lila moves on quickly, leaving Marinette speechless.

From beside her, Alya chimes in. “I can’t believe it,” she says. “Lila likes your dress.”

 

* * *

 

_Five:_

“You take that back!”

“Take what back? The truth? Because that’s what it is.”

Marinette can hear the familiar voices of Chloe and Lila from outside the classroom and isn’t at all surprised to find the two at each other's throats when she does at last enter. Whatever they’re arguing about has Chloe angrier than a trodden-on cat and Lila doesn’t look much calmer. The rest of the class doesn’t seem all that invested, which is fair.

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Ladybug is twice the woman you will _ever_ be! _Three times_ the woman!” Chloe shrieks. It’s hard not to pay attention, but everyone seems pretty involved in their own things. That’s nice. Chloe doesn’t deserve attention for throwing a fit.

But it makes Marinette uneasy that she likes what Chloe is saying. For once.

“Ha! Ladybug’s just a petty brat. She’s no different than anyone else,” Lila spits back. “In fact, she’s _worse_ . I”ve _met_ her.”

“So have I!” Chloe cries, stomping her foot. Marinette looks around. Where’s a teacher when you need one?

“Well, I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree!” Lila says aggressively.

“Marinette!” Chloe wails, finally catching sight of her. “Someone who will listen to reason! You agree that Ladybug’s amazing, right?”

Lila shoots her a look. “Ladybug’s a fraud,” she bites out. “And you’re pathetic for liking her.”

Marinette watches as the two of them bicker it out for several more minutes, wondering what to say. She likes having the support, and it does hurt how much Lila hates her. Well, the other her. But she can’t just agree with Chloe. She knows Ladybug the way that no one else does. And they’re both wrong. She’s just Marinette.

“I think,” she speaks up, interrupting the two of them. Lila looks over pointedly, and Chloe closes her mouth long enough to listen, looking displeased. “I think that Ladybug is probably just a person.”

No one says anything. She continues awkwardly. “I mean, so many people love her. And she’s done some a lot of good things. Which has to mean something, right? But she’s just a person. She makes mistakes like everyone. So whatever happened with Ladybug,” she directs this at Lila., “maybe she feels bad about it. Maybe it was a mistake. But I think you both have valid points.”

Lila’s looking at her like she’s grown a second head. Chloe’s still pissed.

“That’s ridiculous,” Chloe snaps. “Ladybug is better than both of you. I’m done listening to this crap.”

And she sits down, crossing her arms and legs and turning her body away from the two of them.

Marinette smiles weakly at Lila. “Sorry,” she says.

Lila quirks an eyebrow at her. “Why are you sorry?” she asks.

Marinette shrugs.

She doesn’t know what else to say. Luckily, she’s saved from that by Lila, who begins talking again.

“About Ladybug. And what you said,” she says. Marinette nods, watching her as she takes a deep breath. “I don’t think she’s a person.”

Marinette gives a questioning look as she continues. “She’s more than a person. She’s a hero. She’s an idea, she sets a standard for the rest of us. So maybe she can make mistakes. But she still has to be better than the rest of us.” Lila nervously brushes her bangs out of her eyes. “At least, that’s what I think.”

Marinette can’t think of what to say and can’t help but feel blessed by some deity when the teacher comes in and tells them to sit down.

Because wow. She’d never thought of that before.

 

* * *

 

 

_+One:_

It takes awhile, but eventually she gives up trying to pretend she and Lila haven’t had a few moments together. Marinette knows she can’t avoid her at this point. And Lila doesn’t _act_ like she hates Marinette, which definitely means something.

Well. She hopes it does.

But there’s still the issue of her maybe possibly friend hating her superhero self with a passion that could rival, well, any other passion Marinette’s ever witnessed. Though after their last conversation about Ladybug, Marinette isn’t so sure Lila hates Ladybug. She does seem to hate what the hero did to her, and she doesn’t _like_ Ladybug, but there seems to be some amount of respect in the way Lila had talked about her.

At the very least, it got Marinette thinking. Ladybug was never supposed to be a standard or whatever. Ladybug is just something that no one else could do. Ladybug is just like… Her. But with powers.

Still, when she comes to think of it, maybe Ladybug has become more. People like Chloe revere her. Manon does things just because she thought Ladybug would approve, like picking up an old forgotten soda can in the park and throwing it away. Adults respect her as Ladybug.

So hell. She guesses that Lila is right.

Which makes it really weird the next time she sees Lila as Ladybug.

***

It’s normal, everyday chaos when Marinette gets to school. Before lunch, it’s Ladybug’s sort of chaos. Which wouldn’t be so bad, except that Chat Noir never shows up. And she thought Adrien staying home sick would be the worst part of her day.

Some new villain of the week named Old Man Winter comes in with another weird plan for revenge. A freezing storm comes through the school at ten in the morning, never mind that it’s Spring, and leaves Marinette unable to feel her toes.

It doesn’t take long to figure out that the one causing all the trouble is the school’s day janitor, whose office is just a little too cold for his liking. The obvious solution to this situation is freezing the entire school. Right. That makes sense.

Getting to the akumatized item proves more difficult than you’d think since it’s the ring of keys that the man keeps at his belt. Old Man Winter radiates a chill, and touching him is like submerging your hand in liquid nitrogen. Ladybug knows this because she watches some kid from another class go to tackle the man and end up frozen solid.

This is going to be fun to clean up.

Ladybug manages to sheperd most of the kids into classroom and other places that are out of the way before she goes after Old Man Winter, who seems hell-bent on targeting the principal. It is kind of his fault, so that makes sense.

Ladybug gathers herself and shudders against the chill that plagues the building before using her yoyo to climb up to the window of the principal’s office, her fingers begging for a rest.

“Sir!” she says as she slams open the window right after checking to see if Old Man Winter is there. “You’re in danger!”

She blinks when she sees Lila sitting across from the principal with a woman who is definitely her mom. They have the same eyes and cheekbones. It’s enough of a similarity that it completely throws her off for quite a few moments.

“Actually, I’m in a meeting,” the principal, Mr. Damocles, states, unamused.

Ladybug crawls through the window, running to the door and throwing it open. She can see the frost that signifies Old Man Winter’s arrival and immediately slams the door.

“The school is under attack,” she says pointedly, turning to him. “And if you’d like to get turned into an icicle, I don’t mind. But if you’d rather stay conscious and breathing, we need to get you out of here. _Now._ ”

That seems to strike a chord with the man. “Of course,” he says quickly, standing up and suddenly looking very nervous. “I’m very sorry, but it seems we’ll have to reschedule.”

“What’s going on?” Lila’s mother asks.

“Don’t worry, ma’am,” Ladybug assures. “Old Man WInter isn’t after you or your daughter. You should both be fine.”

“This city is insane,” the woman mutters.

 _“Mom,”_ Lila says urgently. “This isn’t a joke. We should get out of here.”

The girl’s mother looks across at her and shakes her head. “I can’t believe this,” she states.

“You both should be fine,” Ladybug repeats. “But we really should-”

The doors burst of their hinges and promptly interrupt Ladybug.

 _Well, shit_ , she decides.

***

And that’s how she ends up jumping out a window with Lila clingy to her for dear life. She managed to get her mom out the door before Old Man Winter came for her, but that was while he was distracted with the principal. He might be a bit of a selfish jerk sometimes, but maybe freezing him solid was a little extreme.

She releases Lila, who’s a little weak at the knees, and turns back to the school. “Stay here,” she commands, her yoyo once again in hand. “I need to get the akuma.”

Lila grabs her before she can rush off, which is kind of annoying considering how many people are in danger right now.

“Wait,” she says. “What about my mom?”

Ladybug turns to her, laying a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “She’ll be fine. I’ll make sure of it.”

“And why should I trust you?” Lila asks coldly. Ladybug is really sick of the cold today.

“Because it doesn’t look like Chat Noir is coming, and I’m the best you’ve got,” she replies honestly. “I know that the last time we saw each other was… Not great, but I’m sorry. I don’t have time for this right now, so maybe we can talk later?”

Lila crosses her arms and glares at her. Ladybug can’t help but feel exasperated. “So you can run away right after all of this is over? I don’t think so,” she says. “Besides, I know you can just undo anything that happens. So why does it matter if a few people get frozen?”

Ladybug’s entire being gets annoyed at that.

“I know I made a mistake. I was angry that you lied and it wasn’t fair of me to act the way I did. But I really, _really_ have to go.”

Lila considers it.

“I’m coming with you,” she announces.

_Oh, come on._

***

The two of them creep through the frozen hallways of the school, making a conscious effort not to slip.

Ladybug can’t believe she agreed to this.

“Alright,” she whispers, “here’s what I need you to do. Go to each classroom and get everyone out of the school. I’ll distract Old Man Winter and try to get his akuma.”

Lila looks like she’s going to argue, but Ladybug continues before she can. “And yes, I can just ‘reverse it,’ but getting frozen in ice for an indefinite amount of time can still be traumatizing. So we should avoid those sorts of casualties, if possible.”

Lila nods reluctantly and turns away from Ladybug. She catches the girl just before she leaves. “Stay safe,” Ladybug whispers. Lila nods once before she’s off and away. Ladybug closes her eyes for a second and takes a deep breath.

“Alright, Marinette,” she says quietly. “You can do this.”

***

She does it. Just barely. There’s ice creeping up her arm as she finally purifies the keyring and she can feel the constriction of her blood vessels as it happens.

But everyone’s safe. Old Man Winter is sitting up and blinking in confusion as the world goes back to normal.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng is going to sleep well tonight.

***

The next day, the school is abuzz with the latest Ladybug news. It’s big - she hasn’t worked without Chat Noir in a long time, and people are positively amazed that she managed so well alone.

Marinette’s satisfied, if not a little tired.

“So, Liar.”

Okay, the warm and fuzzy feeling is gone.

She looks over to where Lila sits. Chloe’s standing over her, arms crossed and wearing a smug smile.

“I heard,” she croons mockingly, “that you ran into Ladybug yesterday. How was it? Being in the same room as someone who’s so much better than you?”

Marinette won’t admit that she’s straining to listen to their conversation now. But she’s pretty sure she mishears when Lila mutters, “It was fun.”

Chloe does a double-take as well. “Excuse me?” she asks.

“I said it was terrible. Go away.”

Chloe climbs down the elevated seats to her own place, grumbling like a child who’s been scolded about something petty. Marinette sneaks a peek at Lila, whose once again staring out of the window.

A warmth flares up in her chest, one that she recognizes well, but it’s gone as quickly as it comes. And Marinette wonders if that was Ladybug or Marinette who felt that.

She is, after all, both of them.


End file.
